"TROY STOP!" Gabriella screams while she watches in horror as her boyfriend and Bradin battle with each other over her. She and the gang were all crowded on the side of them, while they were fighting dangerously close to the edge of the pool, right where the corner was. But Gabriella didn't notice. All she could see was her boyfriend's blood erupting from his mouth and his nose. She could tell his punches were getting weaker with every second that went by, since Bradin had the upper hand right now.
Troy's fist connects with Bradin's nose and Gabriella watches as Bradin doubles back in pain. "You don't give a fucking shit about her!" Bradin screams. Of course he did. He wouldn't be this fight if he didn't! Gabriella knew that Troy was just trying to defend her right now, but this was stupid. It had to stop before something serious happened. Bradin's hand was gripping Troy's shoulder while the other one was throwing punches into his stomach. Gabriella could see more blood erupting from his mouth with each punch. She had to do something.
Her legs move her over so she was next to Troy, trying to figure out a way to rip them apart. But Troy then stands a little straighter and looks up at Bradin. "I FUCKING LOVE HER!"
Gabriella's heart suddenly stops pumping. He just said he loved her. He just said it! It was like all other noise was drawn out from the world as Bradin lets go of Troy and takes a step back. Troy's eyes meet Gabriella's and she stares at him in disbelief. He loved her! He really loved her! A small smile plays on his bloody lips for a moment as her heart was beating faster then anything she could ever feel before. She was too entranced with him to hear Bradin yell "Fuck you!"
But then she suddenly sees Bradin's fist connect with the side of Troy's face. Gabriella's eyes grow into shock. She was pissed; Bradin just ruined her moment for her. She spins around and doesn't see Troy's head connect with the concrete, but she hears the splash of water as his body enters. He would get up, since all he did was fall into the water. At the moment, her anger was built on Bradin. "WHAT THE FUCK? YOU THINK THAT'S GOING TO WIN ME? IT'S NOT!" She screams. "IT JUST MAKES YOU LOOK DUMBER THAN BEFORE!"
"Uhh… Gabs…" She hears Chad's voice behind her, but she figures all he's trying to do it get to her calm down. She didn't want to calm down. She wanted to scream at him for ruining the moment Troy just said.
"I'm sorry you're so fucking jealous but I'm with Troy! I've wanted to be with him for so fucking long…" She starts again but is cut off again.
"Gabs…" Chad's voice says again but she holds her hand up.
"Not now Chad…" She hisses as she suddenly hears a couple footsteps behind her. She turns back to Bradin. "You're so…"
"GABRIELLA!" Chad screams and Gabriella turns around angrily.
"WHAT?" She roars and suddenly sees Chad's normally dark face was as white as a ghost. She looks over to see that everyone else was pale and had the same expression on their faces. They were all staring down into the water and Gabriella's heart suddenly stops beating.
Her body immediately spins around and her face pales. Her whole body feels limp as she stares down into the clear pool. At the bottom, in a blurred form, was her love, not swimming. There was a red string of blood coming up and beginning to turn the water red. He legs feel numb as her eyes grow wide. This wasn't happening. "JOHN!" She hears someone scream behind her, but that was what suddenly woke her up from her trance. Her body suddenly feels function again as her instincts take over.
Gabriella suddenly jumps up in the air, forming a perfect dive, and feels her body slip into the water with grace. It didn't matter that she had her clothes on right now, since she changed when she was done with her shift earlier. All she was worried about was getting to Troy. Her eyes open and she suddenly feels the sting from the chlorine hit them like a slap, but she couldn't worry about it now. She had to get to him. He wasn't moving, so that meant he couldn't swim upward. He could drown.
Her legs kick through the water with power as she swims lower. It was the deepest part of the pool, and he was at the very bottom. But her adrenaline was pumping through her veins as she swam further and further down to the bottom. If his lungs were filling with water, he would drown. It was almost as if the clock was ticking, taunting her. She had to get to him.
She finally reaches the bottom of the pool as her lungs begin to burn and her eyes wouldn't stop stinging. A suddenly flashback from last night of when Troy kept her underwater replays in her head. Her arms grab around his torso, like she was taught in lifeguard training, and she tries to push off the bottom of the pool for power. She could see blood flowing freely from the back of his head and Gabriella suddenly realizes that he must have hit it on the side of the pool when he fell in.
Her legs kick with power as her lungs beg for air. Troy's body was weighing her down, but she had to keep going. Her love was on the line. She had to keep kicking. Right, left, right left. She replays in her head as she reaches towards the surface. The light was shining from the top. She couldn't take it anymore. She needed air. Right, left, right…
Her head breaks the surfaces and she suddenly gulps the fresh air hungrily. Panting, she brings Troy's body around so she could carry it better as she uses her tired legs to get to the side of the pool. Chad was kneeling down at the edge and everyone looked like they were sighing in relief. But Gabriella's heart still wasn't beating. Troy wasn't breathing.
"We got him…" Chad exclaims as he reaches in the water and grabs Troy's shoulders. John grabs his feet as the both pull him out of the water, since Gabriella didn't have the strength. But her body keeps swimming. She had to get to him. He wasn't breathing. Her hands grab the side of the pool as Taylor and Cassie pull her up.
"You scared us." She hears Taylor say but she immediately shrugs off their arms as soon as both feet touch the ground.
"MOVE!" She screams as she runs over to were Chad and John had placed Troy on the ground. Panic was spreading through her body like the plague. She forcefully pushes Chad's body off from the side. "GET THE FUCK AWAY!" She screams as she kneels down next to Troy to stare at his ghost white face.
"Gabs…" Chad starts and places a hand on Gabriella's shoulder, but she pushes it off. Her mind was suddenly reeling through her lifeguard training.
"Troy! Baby… come on wake up!" She yells and shakes his shoulder lightly. His body was limp and she knew she was running out of time.
"Someone get Fulton!" Chad yells in the background but Gabriella couldn't hear it. She also didn't hear Sharpay's footsteps running to get him.
"You're going to be in so much shit…" Zeke's voice says.
"DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE GIVE A SHIT?" Chad yells but Gabriella still doesn't hear it.
She tilts Troy's head back and places her ear up to his mouth, desperately checking for a breath. She doesn't feel one. So she pinches his nose and leans down and covers his mouth with hers. She closes her eyes and blows two breaths into his mouth. He doesn't respond. She places her hands in between where she knew his nipples were underneath his shirt and beings pressing down. "One, two, three, four…" She begins counting out loud, but her mind was going a million miles an hour. What if he didn't breath? "thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…" What if he didn't make it? "twenty, twenty one, twenty two…" What if she never got to see his beautiful blue eyes ever again?
What if she never got to tell him she loved him back?
"Thirty!" She yells desperately and tilts his head back and plugs his nose. Her lips crash down onto his familiar ones and she wished desperately that they'd suddenly spring to life and begin to kiss her. She prayed that he would just grab her neck and then admit that it was all a joke, that he really could breath. That wasn't going to happen, and she knew it.
She does another two rounds of compressions and breaths and then finally hears Fulton's voice behind her. "The ambulance is on its way." She could hear but she places her mouth back onto Troy's again and gives two breaths. She didn't care about explaining it to Fulton. All that was on her mind was getting Troy to get to breathe. Seconds turned into hours.
"Damn it Troy!" Gabriella screams as she begins chest compressions again. Tears were streaming down her face. "Don't fucking do this to me!" She screams and her hands were desperately pushing down. After another thirty, she places her mouth back onto his and blows. If this was it, she couldn't take it. She had wasted four long years not being with him. And she had loved him that whole time. She wanted her chance with him. "I NEED YOU!" The tears were falling down her already wet cheeks. "Please don't leave me." She says as she stares into his pale, lifeless face. "I never got to say I love you too."
Her mouth connects with his again as she closes her eyes and prays. 'Please don't take him from me'. She pleads with God. 'Please don't take him away. I already lost my dad… I can't loose Troy.'
Suddenly, Troy's body shakes and Gabriella moves her mouth away from his. Relief spreads through out her body like an antibiotic. He suddenly coughs, water spilling out of his mouth. Her eyes close as she suddenly looks upwards. "Thank you." She whispers and then opens her eyes back up again. "That's it Troy…" Gabriella flips his body over on its side, careful not to harm his head anymore, so he didn't choke on the water that was coming up. His body was shaking from the vomit, but he was still unconscious.
"Thank God…" She finally remembers that there were other people here besides her. Her tearstained eyes look up to find that Chad was kneeling down near Troy's waist with tears streaming down his own face. Gabriella looks up to see that everyone else was silently crying, except Cassie who was on the verge of sobs, since it was her cousin. Even Bradin, who looked whiter then a fresh blanket of snow, had glossy eyes as he stared down. Troy's coughs suddenly stop and his body collapse again. Gabriella's stomach flips as she puts her hand in front of his mouth, but relaxes again when she feels his breath.
"What the hell happened?" Fulton yells but Gabriella doesn't look up. Instead, she rolls Troy back onto his back and places his head into her lap and softly leans down to kiss him on the head. He was going to be ok, and that was all that matters. Her fingers run through his wet hair as he coughs a little again, but then stops.
"Troy hit his head on the side of the pool." Chad exclaims and stands up from Troy's waist. Gabriella notices how he doesn't mention the fight that occurred, even though Bradin had a black eye and his lips were puffy and bleeding. But she knew that if they mentioned the fight, both Troy and Bradin would be fired. She was sure he was protecting Troy.
She suddenly hears a loud siren in the background. The ambulance must be here. Gabriella continues to stroke her fingers down the side of Troy's head while she stares down into his normally perfect face, and finds it completely unfamiliar. He had a bruise above his left eye and his lip was split. His normally tan skin was ghost white, but was filling with more color then it had a minute ago. Blood was caked in his hair on the back of his head. She hears a bunch of footsteps and suddenly looks up to find a man with a square jaw and spiked black hair looking kneeling down next to Troy. He was yelling directions at two other people as Gabriella watches as they pull up an orange rolling stretcher. "Miss, you're going to have to move…" He says in a soft voice but Gabriella shakes her head. Tears were streaming down her face still.
"I'm not leaving him." She says, her voice was horse and her throat felt like sandpaper. The parametic sighs and places a hand on her shoulder.
"I understand… but we need to get in him in the stretcher." She didn't want to leave him, she couldn't. She had to be 100 sure he was going to be ok. There was no way she was leaving him.
"I'm not leaving!" She tries to yell, but her voice wouldn't let her. She suddenly feels two hand under her armpits, pulling her upward against her will.
"Come on Gabs." Chad coxes but Gabriella angrily tries to rip away.
"LET ME GO!" She screams but feels Chad finally get her away. She watches as the paramedics slip the board under Troy's body and lift him up onto the cart to take him to the ambulance. "LET ME GO!" She screams again and continues to struggle, but Chad's arms were too strong. He turns her in his arms and she begins to pound her arms onto his chest, but they were too weak from the swimming and the CPR. "Let me go…" She says weakly and suddenly feels her body go limp in Chad's grasp. She collapses in his arms and suddenly starts to sob. The emotions from everything that went on that day were suddenly falling down on her and she couldn't control it.
"Shhh… he's gonna be fine Gabs…" Chad says and Gabriella could feel him stroking her hair. "You saved him… he's gonna be fine."
Her head buries deeper into Chad's chest as more sobs erupt. Chad continues to try to calm her, but she knew that nothing would make her completely ok until she was in Troy's arms again. After about five minutes, her sobs come to a stop and she lifts her head from Chad's chest. She looks around to see that Cassie was still breathing heavily with tears streaming down her face and Taylor trying to calm her down. Gabriella takes a shaky breath and feels another tear roll down her face. She lets go of Chad's arms and shakily walks over to where Cassie was. Taylor lets go of her and the two girls stare at each other for a moment, then pull each other into a hug, starting to sob again.
"The bastard always has to be the fucking center of attention." Cassie says and Gabriella laughs a little. "You saved his life."
Gabriella feels more tears slip down her face again. "It was my fault he was fighting in the first place." She whispers back and feels another tear stream down her face.
They pull apart and Gabriella wipes her eyes. She looks up to see Chad standing next to her so she turns to him. He had keys dangling from his fingers and sighs. "I'll take you."
Gabriella feels her head nod slowly as Chad places an arm around her, supporting her. Gabriella keeps her head down and doesn't make eye contact with anyone, as they slowly make their way to Chad's car in silence.
She walks into the familiar white doors and looks back to see Chad was following her. They make their way to the front desk in silence and Gabriella sees a familiar woman sitting at the desk. The lady had thick rimmed glasses and short blonde hair that was starting to grey. She had a name tag on that said "Debbie Richardson" placed on her chest. Gabriella had seen the woman a thousand times, but for completely different reasons. "Ummm… excuse me…" Chad says after he clears his throat and the woman looks up as a smile breaks out onto her face.
"Gabriella! Dear! It's so nice to see you…" Mrs. Richardson says with a smile as big as California. Gabriella's mouth couldn't form a smile though. She was too busy seeing the image of Troy's lifeless face burned into her memory. "Let me call your mother…" She says and Gabriella opens her mouth to find it was completely dry.
Chad clears his throat again. "Actually… we're here to see someone." He says and Gabriella was thankful that Chad could actually talk, because she couldn't find her voice.
Mrs. Richardson's face falls a little. "Oh um… alright…" She says and Chad sighs.
"Our friend… he um… he hit his head on concrete and…"
Mrs. Richardson nods her head and looks down at a paper sitting on her desk. "Right… right… the one in the pool." She says and looks back up again. Gabriella's eyes narrow He shouldn't be labeled 'the one with the pool'. He had a name for God's sake! But Mrs. Richardson doesn't seem to notice. "Go to the injuries area… I'm sure you know where that is Gabriella… and sit in the waiting room. Tell the secretary who you are looking for." She says in an almost rehearsed tone but then smiles back at them. "It was nice to see you." She says and Gabriella gives her a small nod. Then looks up at Chad.
"It's this way." Her voice says in a slightly raspy tone still and they begin to make their way down the hallway. The reach the elevator and Gabriella presses the up button and closes her eyes. She had been her a million times. Her mother worked here, plus she was in here all the time four years ago, when her father had been here. The place still gave her the creeps, knowing that her father lost his life in this building.
The elevator suddenly opens and both of them step inside to find it empty. She presses the three button and watches as the doors shut. She never understood why injuries were on the third floor, because they'd have to get them up three stories. But her thoughts were drown out by Chad turning to her. "You ok?"
Gabriella looks up at him with her eyes wide. "Do I fucking look ok?" She asks and Chad chuckles a little.
"Ok… bad question." He says as the elevator doors open and both of them step outside. "You know… Troy hates hospitals."
Gabriella suddenly hears a voice come out of her mouth that was a small laugh, but it was suppressed. "I know. I used to drag him here when I didn't want to be bored while my dad had to work and my mom had to watch me. He'd sit on the chairs and complain that it smelled like dead people." She sighs, taking in a breath of air. "He was right."
Chad smiles a little as they look up at the sign that said "Injuries". They walk to the desk were a younger lady sat, that Gabriella wasn't familiar with. "Hi… we're here to see Troy Bolton."
The lady with long brown hair pulled up into a ponytail looks down at a piece of paper. She places a loose piece of hair behind her ears and Gabriella's heart beats faster. What if something went wrong in the ambulance? What if he stopped breathing again? The lady looks up at them "He's in an MRI right now. They're examining for brain damage. It may take a few hours. You can have a seat." She says while pointing to the empty chairs.
The deep brown eyes suddenly widen in fear. Her eyes look up at Chad who had the same expression on his face. She suddenly feels a tear slip down her face as fear spreads through out her body. "Brain damage?"